We all make mistakes and learning the ropes of camming takes time. But hopefully you’ll be better equipped knowing what I consider to be the most important lessons I learned on my first day. Check out the five worst mistakes I made on my first day camming. I fucked up so you don’t have to, ha.
Racing the Clock in Private Chat
I remember that as-yet-unfamiliar ding and the little notice: “You are now in paid chat.” Panicking. Ermergerd what do I do? Oh right, I put on a show. I stripped in like 10 seconds flat and started playing with my toys.
[tweetthis]Welcome your client with your best smile. Don’t rush yourself, and don’t rush him.[/tweetthis]
Take a breath and slow down.
When a client takes you to private chat, he often has a particular request and doesn’t mind taking a moment to communicate with you. Welcome your client with your best smile. Don’t rush yourself, and don’t rush him. The golden line is: “Do you have any special ideas or requests for our session today?” If he doesn’t, he’ll normally let you know. If he doesn’t communicate within, say, 30 seconds or so – THEN you can feel free to start teasing a bit and go about a sort of “default” show unless he tells you otherwise.
Giving Freeloaders the Time of Day
We call them greys. We call them freeloaders. They are users who aren’t going to spend a dime on you and there’s nothing you can do to change that reality. They exist everywhere. They are shameless. Ugh.
On my first day, I fell for one of the lowest tricks in the book – a fake tip. That’s right, some guy posted “BigSteve has tipped the model 100 tokens!” (I don’t actually remember the name or the number but you get the idea.) Had I not been completely overwhelmed and nervous in that moment I probably would have realized it wasn’t real. But I had never seen a real tip, so I doubted my instinct. And I flashed the room. Well, I 
learned quick when I checked my stats and saw nothing but zeros. You’ll know a real tip when you see it, because it won’t look like the rest of the chat. Depending on the site, it will be set apart in a different colour or highlighted in gold.
Freeloaders are the bane of our existence as camgirls. We learn to deal with them. We learn to ignore them.
Fighting that Nervous Feeling
Camming takes guts. Sure, you’re basically anonymous and you have the freedom to project whatever aspects of your personality you feel like projecting. But you really are putting yourself out there, and you’re letting people see parts of you that you probably wouldn’t otherwise share with dozens or hundreds of people. I’m not just talking about your tits here lol. When you’re broadcasting yourself from your bedroom or your couch, you have the chance to truly connect with a lot of different kinds of people. Have those real conversations. Embrace the butterflies. Admit that it’s your first day and you’re nervous.
[tweetthis]Embrace the butterflies. Admit that it’s your first day and you’re nervous.[/tweetthis]
And if you’re feeling particularly anxious, like I was on my first day, feel free to just type for a bit until you get comfortable enough to use your mic. Those first day jitters though.
Trying Too Hard to Be Seductive
[tweetthis]Stop trying so hard to seduce potential clients. Desperation is terribly unattractive.[/tweetthis]
In contrast to embracing the butterflies: RELAX. Seriously, you don’t have to put on an act or a show in an attempt to get people to dish out tokens or gold or whatever the currency is on your chosen site. Stop trying so hard to seduce potential clients. They can smell your desperation a mile away and it’s terribly unattractive.
Try to stay positive and answer questions about your offerings genuinely, but above all be true to yourself.
Disguising Myself as Some Other Girl
On my first day, I had this picture in my head of what a camgirl is supposed to be like. I tried to mimic that picture, and I was so disingenuous it was sickening. Not to mention exhausting. Being yourself really is the best advice. If you forget everything else, remember this one.
YOU are good enough.
But I want to be better than good enough. Trust me. Your quirks and your personality make you one of a kind, and there is a group of clients looking for someone just like you. The best clients are looking for someone they connect with, not a carbon copy of everything else that exists. Just be you, and be patient. Your true fans will have an easier time finding you if you aren’t disguised as someone else.
[tweetthis remove_hidden_hashtags=”true”]Your true fans will have an easier time finding you if you aren’t disguised as someone else.[/tweetthis]
Take it easy.
I have a question is it a bad thing to talk to basics (people who have accounts but don’t have tks on MFC)? I just started and I have been just talking to them really. I didn’t really start camming for the money but to fill my spare time and I’ve found that if I talk to the basics I tend to earn more tips as well as have a better time. as opposed to muting them like most do.
It’s absolutely not a bad thing to talk to “greys” – if you’re having a good time, everyone’s having a good time, and it makes sense that you’d earn more tips that way. Keep doing what works for you!
Hey I was wondering if you’re making a large amount of money come tax time do you end up having to owe the IRS?
Hey Jazzi,
Yes, since cam sites don’t take any taxes you will have to pay them yourself at tax time. Budget accordingly! 🙂
I’m about to be of legal age to do this, and I have a couple concerns.
1. How likely is it that anything I do on cam will be posted elsewhere, and how can I make myself less recognizable in case someone I know were to see it?
2. Is there a specific rule for how much you have to be willing to take off/do on cam? There’s not much I’m unwilling to do, but I AM nervous.
Hi Ellie,
1. It happens. It’s never happened to me personally (that I know of!), but I came to terms with the possibility a long time ago. You can opt to work with disguises if it suits you.
2. No. But be clear about your limits and don’t ever agree to do something you’re uncomfortable with. I was totally nervous starting out too, and I think it’s pretty normal. With experience and confidence you just might expand your horizons. 🙂
Hello! I have been thinking of doing something like this for a while and I have couple of questions I wondered if you could help me with. One I never wear makeup will I need to learn? I want to keep the upper portion of my face covered, so would eye make be worth learning? Also for the moment I have a cast on my left wrist. while it only means I type slower it’s also not really sexy so should I hold off till the cast is gone? Can I read while I wait or would that be rude and the last thing is does Vanessa Misschief work as a cam name? Sorry there was so much! Hope to hear from you when you can!
Hey Vanessa!
Great questions, let’s dive in.
I never wear makeup either, and when I first started that’s one thing I tried to change. You’ll probably need at least a good foundation for camming – I’ve found if I log on naked faced the camera makes me look kinda bleh. You wanna look alive. 😀 Whether you need eye makeup really depends on the mask, but my friend Arcana says yes. I would recommend trying a little mascara and a liquid liner on your top eyelid for a dramatic effect. Check out YouTube for some tips on making a great cat eye (relatively easy to learn!). Also, lip gloss!
I don’t recommend reading while you wait. The last thing you want to look is bored or disinterested. Some girls even suggest pretending you’re talking to a potential client. 😉
The cast, while not sexy, might actually add to your girl next door thing if you’re going for that. It will probably get you some sympathy tips and provide an ice breaker of sorts. Your goal starting out is just to get some people hooked on you and your personality. Being sexy is not your primary goal, but rather showing up and having a good time with your guests.
The name works fine. The real question is whether you love it. Be sure to check out Ashe’s post about picking your cam name if you need any help with that.
And hey, sorry for the confusion with the comments not showing up right away. They wait for me to reply. 🙂
I hope this helps! If you need anything else I’d be happy to hear from you again. Thanks for reading O Camgirl!
Best,
Cat
Cat, do the people you cam for also have cams? Are you talking to them face to face or do they just see you?
Great question, Zephyra! Cam-to-cam (c2c), or when your guest turns his cam on, is usually an option reserved for a paid private chat. So for the most part, they just see you.
Hi Cat, Is there a way of working as a cam model independently, say on Skype and being able to keep all your earnings without having a site take 70%? We would earn so much more, which we deserve for our hard work if we weren’t losing such a big cut to the sites!
Hi Ella, Thanks for posting your question! Certainly, there are pros and cons to independent Skype camming. Here’s an article Arcana wrote on the subject. I definitely agree with her recommendation of at least 1 year experience on a major third party site before trying this. Best, Cat